After a frenzied night, Cha Eui-sung fell into a deep sleep.
It was the kind of sleep that mimicked death—utterly dreamless. He sank into a pitch-black, silent void, as if submerged in still waters.
When he finally awoke, it was well past noon. In a daze, he groped for his phone and checked the time: 12:36 PM glowed back at him.
Moon Tae-young was… gone. The apartment was completely still, not a trace of presence anywhere. He must have left for work, leaving him behind.
After pulling an all-nighter like that without catching even a wink of sleep.
Only then did Cha Eui-sung sit up. He remembered falling asleep on the living room floor, yet he was now lying on a soft bed.
The comforter wrapped around his body felt unusually warm and plush.
“Ugh… haaa…”
Stretching with a groggy groan, he turned his head. Even though he’d fallen asleep without so much as rinsing off, his body felt oddly clean.
Actually, it wasn’t just a feeling—he was clean. Considering how he’d been soaked in sweat and other fluids before passing out, someone had clearly intervened.
When did he even clean me up?
He didn’t recall feeling any water being poured on him, so most likely Moon Tae-young had wiped him down with a damp towel. He’d been so thorough that there wasn’t a single sticky spot or lingering smell left.
He could’ve just woken him up and made him wash. Why was he so damn devoted to this caretaker role?
Cha Eui-sung buried his nose into his arm and sniffed before slowly rising. A quick glance down showed that even the bruising had almost completely faded.
Muscle pain? Not a chance. If anything, it felt like he’d finally relieved some long-built-up tension—his body felt refreshed from head to toe.
Still… I should shower.
Apparently, no one had bothered to redress him. Completely naked, Cha Eui-sung trudged toward the bathroom in nothing but his skin.
His chest reflected in the mirror was flawless—no smudges or stains. Despite all the biting and nibbling that went on throughout the night, there wasn’t even a mark left. Whatever small wounds he’d had had healed perfectly.
Shhhhh—
As the water poured over him, Cha Eui-sung rubbed his face with a heavy sigh. The whole time he washed, something kept leaking from down below.
Fuck. Just how much did he even come? Is this even humanly possible?
Thinking back to last night—no, early this morning—made his brain feel like it was burning to ash.
Moon Tae-young always revealed new sides of himself the closer they got, but this time? This time was absolutely insane.
It was like all the self-control and restraint he’d shown before had been building toward this outburst, and when it finally burst loose, it was… terrifying.
Cha Eui-sung, cheeks flushed red, pushed the shower lever to the right. Only after cold water cascaded over him did the heat in his body finally begin to cool.
“Haa. That’s better.”
Still, once he was out of the shower, he was surprised at how calm he felt. That constant tension and anxiety that had plagued him seemed to have melted away.
He shook out his wet hair, scattering droplets everywhere like dandelion fluff, and stepped into the empty living room.
The once-sticky floor had been cleaned, the beanbag and low table that had been shoved to one side were back in place. It wasn’t spotless, but it was obvious someone had done some tidying up—just not enough time to do a perfect job.
Even so, a dish cover placed beside the sink caught his eye. No mistaking it—it was food. That bastard had even left a meal behind for him before rushing out the door. Truly unbelievable.
He must’ve been exhausted too.
On the desk where the PC sat, a crumpled piece of clothing was piled. It looked like the shirt Moon Tae-young had tossed off yesterday—probably meant to be cleaned up but forgotten in the rush.
Cha Eui-sung stared silently at the pale blue-grey bundle, then slowly walked toward it.
Though the apartment was empty, he glanced around cautiously, then gently picked it up and buried his face in it.
Fuck. It smelled like Moon Tae-young. The scent dissolved every bit of tension in his body, made his chest ache and his head float.
What now? It had already been weird before, but now whenever he thought of him, an intense, unnameable feeling came crashing over him.
Even just standing here alone, pressing his nose into someone else’s shirt like this… it felt totally unhinged.
Cha Eui-sung rubbed his cheek against the fabric, breathing out an airy, trembling sigh.
This was all Moon Tae-young’s fault. That crazy Demon King bastard had seduced him. He bore no responsibility.
Even this shirt—he probably left it out on purpose for him to find. As ridiculous thoughts swirled through his head, Cha Eui-sung let out a long breath, unsure whether it was a sigh or a moan of bliss.
If only that bastard weren’t the Demon King, maybe he could feel a little more at ease. If the world weren’t falling apart, he’d have no qualms about stealing him away and locking him in some dungeon or basement just to keep him close.
He shouldn’t feel this way, but he couldn’t control it. He never really could, but now he was veering completely off course—racing straight off a cliff.
Is this really okay…?
For once, he didn’t even feel like beating himself up over it. Staring blankly out the window, still toying with the shirt soaked in Moon Tae-young’s scent, Cha Eui-sung lost himself.
The sun was high in the sky, and outside, the world shone so brightly it felt almost surreal.
***
〈How Much Does He Know?〉
—There’s a chance he vaguely caught on to the first dungeon clear.
▷ Does he believe it was cleared by the individual himself, or does he think another Awakened was involved?
▷ What about the first clear of the Chain Dungeon afterward? He probably doesn’t know that.
—He could confirm backdoor dealings with a politician via the Gigas Armor.
—There’s a chance he’s already identified the civilian companies or organizations linked to that Assemblyman… fuck.
—If that’s the case, then he likely dug into every connection the Assemblyman or those companies had—even matching testimonies from complicit journalists—and picked it all apart.
▷ So, if he noticed how small-scale the movements were compared to the operation’s size, he might’ve instinctively sensed it was the work of an individual, not an organization.
▷ The fact that barely any rumors spread, combined with certain intel, likely pointed to a single person.
▷ Does he know someone was even manipulating the stock market?
: Existence of a mysterious Awakened “A” pulling strings behind the scenes in politics and finance.
〈Car Owner Involved in Contact Incident with Go Yeong-won〉
—A civilian caught in an accident caused by Go Yeong-won, according to the scene report.
—100% probability that a report was filed about Go Yeong-won showing a bizarre level of interest in the civilian, despite potential misunderstandings.
▷ How was that described? A frightened civilian?
—Judging by the communication, it’s likely Go Yeong-won insisted on meeting the person directly.
▷ If reports say the civilian appeared terrified, refusing the meeting would make sense.
—Go Yeong-won met the victim at his “privately-owned residence” for a “one-on-one” encounter.
▷ If the past hasn’t changed, he would never treat an Unawakened person as an equal.
▷ Yet the victim is an unregistered civilian Awakened.
—Highly likely he suspected the car owner was an unregistered Awakened.
▷ Did Go Yeong-won find him, or did the civilian approach him? Reason for suspicion.
▷ Was the Jeongchoduk Dungeon incident a natural progression? Or a staged encounter? Second reason for suspicion.
▷ If Go Yeong-won is protecting an unregistered Awakened without informing the Association… then odds are he’s S-rank or near it.
▷ Fuck.
: Existence of unregistered Awakened “B” who made contact with Go Yeong-won.
〈Can Awakened A and B Be Linked?〉
—…
—If it’s Oh Se-dan, the strange thing would be not suspecting it.
—…Call coming in from a personal number.
Should’ve known this was about meeting that bastard Go Yeong-won—
“Haa.”
Cha Eui-sung let out a deep sigh and shoved the tablet PC aside with a soft thump. The pen rolled across the screen and settled onto the blanket.
After calmly listing out all the conjectured scenarios, the situation he already knew pierced his brain in even more gruesome detail.
Sure, most of what he’d written was speculative, lacking hard evidence…
“But what does evidence matter? It’s Oh Se-dan.”
That was the problem—dealing with someone like Oh Se-dan. Cha Eui-sung squeezed his eyes shut. He knew all too well how the man’s brain worked—how he analyzed, how he solved problems.
“He must’ve figured it out already, huh?”
Oh Se-dan, terminal-stage paranoia patient with the instincts of a beast, always treated assumptions as the starting point.
He branched his thoughts in all directions, did solo brainstorming, and then systematically tested every idea he came up with.
Even if the likelihood was slim, he plugged every possibility into the situation. “What would’ve happened if—?” Hypothesize, simulate, verify.
It was like solving a Sudoku puzzle with broken links. If 3, 7, and 8 were possible fits in a square but no connection surfaced to eliminate any, he’d just test all three and proceed.
Not an easy task. Narrowing down those candidates alone took skill.
And the bastard didn’t even have correction fluid to erase mistakes, or scrap paper to rewrite calculations… but the worst part? He remembered every step—he had the brain to reset everything back to square one.
So there was no way Oh Se-dan hadn’t at least considered it. That the secret puppet master behind everything and Go Yeong-won’s new “unregistered Awakened friend” might be the same person.
Worse still, that the puppet master had deliberately approached Go Yeong-won—and might even be extending a hand toward the Association… or to himself.
No. Fuck that.
The second part really was unfair. The blame lay squarely on his own carelessness. He never imagined Oh Se-dan would’ve had a weird feeling about things from the start—or that he’d been creepily stalking the S-ranks all along.
Goddamn it. Cha Eui-sung bit his lip and flopped onto the bed, rolling over with a grunt.
What kept him oddly composed in this suffocating situation was, strangely enough, Moon Tae-young.
Somehow, just thinking of him dulled the gnawing anxiety and wrapped his mind in a floaty, numbing warmth.
It was bizarre. His hypersensitive brain—usually quick to flinch from even the slightest shock—felt like it had been dosed with tranquilizers.
Then… did Oh Se-dan catch onto Moon Tae-young too?
The thought sent a shiver through him, sharpening his focus. So no, his brain hadn’t short-circuited just yet. He could still think—just from a more stabilized place now.
And… maybe it was just a gut feeling, but Cha Eui-sung didn’t think Oh Se-dan would suspect Moon Tae-young.
If anything, he’d be keeping his eyes on that information hoarder, Kim Jeong-baek—not checking far-out options like non-3s, non-7s, or non-8s.
As thorough as he was, the man was still a time-starved slave to the Association.
Is that a relief?
Cha Eui-sung absentmindedly stared up at the cheap wallpapered ceiling, mentally picking through each scenario like he could read Oh Se-dan’s thoughts.
He found himself wondering—was the guy also trying to probe the shadowy forces behind it all?
Maybe their inevitable meeting was closer than expected. That phone call from his personal number was as good as a declaration: “I’ll handle this before the month’s out.”
Damn it. One careless butterfly wingbeat post-regression had now come boomeranging back like a fucking giant war fan.
“Tch…”
He clicked his tongue and turned over.
When can I bolt again?
Suddenly, Cha Eui-sung thought of the Gauge. The intense reaction Moon Tae-young had last night flickered vividly in his mind.
No way… Had the value gone up again?
He opened the system window with a strange sense of discomfort.
[SAVIOR GAUGE]
■■■■■■■■■■
■■■■■■□□□□
78%
“…Ah. Hnn.”
As expected, it hadn’t let him down. The gauge had ticked upward—just slightly.
